The Wolfie Special -- Designed and Refined by a Guitar Demigod!

The EVH Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang Special -- the flat-top edition of Edward's signature instrument -- is an exceptional high-end electric guitar, designed and refined by one of the greatest guitar players of all time. No mere collector's item, the Wolfgang Special was designed with the needs of true musicians in mind. This Wolfie combines a lightning-fast neck design with two proprietary EVH humbucking pickups to create a guitar that will inspire you to a whole new level of musicianship.

Because Perfection is a Continual Process

The EVH Wolfgang Special is a flat-top adaptation of the celebrated EVH USA Wolfgang, with a solid basswood body and beautiful maple-veneer top. The neck is carved from a single piece of high-grade quarter-sawn maple. You'll see that the fingerboard is made from AA birdseye maple, which is pleasing to the eye and incredibly satisfying under the fingers. It's got a 12-16 inch compound-radius cut as well, which means that every note will intonate evenly at every point in the fretboard, even through your most savage bends and tremolos. It is set with 22 stainless steel frets with "vintage" size specifications. You'll also feel immediately comfortable with the standard 25.5-inch scale length. The nut is a Floyd Rose R2 locking nut, measuring 1.625 inches across.

Ingenious Hardware Designs

The EVH Wolfgang Special lends itself to expressive playing, with its EVH-branded Floyd Rose authentic locking tremolo system -- complete with the pre-installed D-Tuna drop tuning system designed by Edward Van Halen himself. The EVH D-Tuna is a patented design that puts a string locking screw switch on the saddle of the lowest note on the bridge. With this, you can simply flip the switch to drop the E string down a whole step to D, so you can fret your power chords even faster. When you want to switch back to a standard tuning, just flip the switch and you're back with no loss to tuning stability on the string. A simple but ingenious innovation! It's really no wonder that so many great guitarists have been using the D-Tuna since it was introduced in the early 1990s. A set of chrome EVH-branded Gotoh tuning machines with pearloid buttons completes the top-shelf hardware on this beast.

Humbuckers Reconsidered from the Ground Up

The electronics on your EVH Wolfgang Special are the result of no less innovation. The design process for these custom humbuckers allegedly went through more than 80 prototypes before EVH himself approved them for release. Through a clean amp, you'll marvel at their sparkling response, rich in overtones and perfectly suited to a heavily chorused clean sound. Then, as you open up more and more crunch on your signal, you'll have your breath taken away by the character these pups impart to sustaining leads and shred sounds. The two Bourns pots onboard offer you a wide spectrum to craft the tone and level you need, and a standard 3-position switch lets you combine the pickups in whatever configuration you desire.

If you have additional warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer at 480-596-7195

Product Description

Eddie Van Halen is the guitarist's guitarist, and the EVH Wolfgang series guitars are a dream to play. The Wolfgang Special is a flat-top edition of EVH's USA Wolfgang's offering single ply body binding between the basswood body and maple veneer top, a 22 fret AA Birdseye maple fingerboard with a 12 to 16 inch compound radius and with an EVH branded Floyd Rose that includes Eddie's own D-Tuna drop tuning system built right on the tremolo.

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"EVH Wolfgang"

Sound:
The sound of this instrument is incredible through high gain amp settings. The sustain is really good and the tones this guitar gets are very nice. It's also really easy to control the tone through judicious use of the volume and tone knobs. Dial it back and it'll clean up nicely. The pickups are a touch too hot for great clean tones though, but I didn't buy this guitar to comp chords in a jazz combo. I bought it to play rock, and it does that quite well.
Feature:
Neck/body fit could have been better, but otherwise the construction of the guitar is pretty nice. All the hardware is top shelf stuff, and the electronics are really good. Good enough to make me start shopping to upgrade one of my other guitars. I don't love the volume pot (frictionless model) but otherwise I couldn't be happier. And once set up properly, the D-Tuna works as advertised. I love going from standard tuning to Drop-D and back without having to even slow down my playing, much less stop and tune.
Ease of Use:
Once the neck alignment issue was sorted out, this guitar is incredibly playable. The neck is fantastic and feels already broken in. Supposedly the stainless frets aren't supposed to wear like nickel, but I haven't had it long enough yet to have an opinion on that. The weight and the way the guitar hangs is pretty close to perfect. Very comfortable.
Quality:
Other than the mentioned issue, the quality feels very high. I don't regret not spending the money on a USA made Wolfgang.
Value:
It's definitely worth the money. This is the most I've spent on an instrument and couldn't be happier.
Manufacturer Support:
It's Fender.
The Wow Factor:
The WOW factor is way up there. The finish, the hardware, the sound.. all a notch above what you'd expect from a guitar in this price range.
Overall:
I purchased an EVH Wolfgang Special from zZounds about 2 weeks ago.
The good:
First off, this is a beautiful instrument. The tobacco sunburst finish is absolutely stunning. The body shows a lot of interesting detail in the finish and the neck is amazing. The neck is incredibly playable and the sound this guitar gets is beyond words. Van Halen could have quit when DLR left and Eddie would have had an incredible career designing and building guitars. He knows exactly what he's doing.
The Bad:
The neck on mine wasn't installed perfectly straight when it showed up here. The high E string was was hanging almost off the fretboard. Loosening three screws on the neck and moving it fixed it though and now it's pretty dang close to perfect.

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"Completely Blow Away!"

Overall:
I had read many reviews of this guitar online before my final purchase. I knew that at some point in my life I would own an actual Van Halen signature model, but I always thought I would hold out for the American model. If you are in the same boat and don't need your guitar to be an arch top, press buy now and get this magnificent guitar! The guitar plays the a dream!
The neck is soft as butter and the frets were cut perfectly.
The floyd in the bridge is great and I have had zero tuning issues. One thing I will say, and it should be common knowledge, is that if you are using the drop d tuna then you CAN NOT float this bridge. I made the mistake of trying this on a day that I played with two separate bands playing in two separate tunings and it made my life a living hell until I realized my mistake and screwed that bridge down tight.
The pickups on this beast are hot as hell. It was definitely made to be played with an amp that reacts to finding a clean sound by rolling back the volume knob, so be forewarned that most gain levels on a clean channel will need to be rolled back.
The volume knob on this is superb! The low friction turn makes whale sounds and swells a breeze! The only issue i have is that i have to adjust my pinky so as not to bump this when I am playing. Minor fix for maximum results.
I was overly surprised at the case for this guitar. More like a rifle case than anything else! I have owned this for a little over a month and it has already been banged around as much as any touring musician normally would. I do not baby my equipment and it has nary a scratch on it. Seems like it will stand the test of time. You will definitely need to make use of the cubby hole in the case because it is a form fitted case and makes no room for the whammy bar or a strap.
Whether your are a van halen fan or not, this guitar will outplay most instruments in the market at this price.

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A temporary customer reference number is assigned to each customer only while they are shopping on zZounds.com. If you call our customer service department for assistance, this number makes it easier for us to answer any questions you have about products, services or purchases.

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